GIFT  OF 


BUREAU  OF  THE  CENSUS 

REPORT  OF  THE  DIRECTOR 

TO  THE  SECRETARY  OF 
COMMERCE  AND  LABOR 


Concerning  die  Administra- 
tion of  the  Permanent  Bureau 


WASHINGTON  :  1903 


uv 


BUREAU  OF  THE  CENSUS 

REPORT  OF  THE  DIRECTOR 

•      TO  THE  SECRETARY  OF 
COMMERCE  AND  LABOR 


Concerning  the  Administra- 
tion 'of  the  Permanent  Bureau 


WASHINGTON  :  1903 


VI A 


B-4B4 

<&abrrntnrnt  printing  (Dffirr 


REPORT 
OF  THE  DIRECTOR  OF  THE  CENSUS 


Washington,  D.  C.,  October  28, 
SIR:  The  report  of  the  operations  of  the  Census  Office  for  the 
fiscal  year  ended  June  30,  1903,  has  been  submitted  to  the  Sec- 
retary of  the  Interior,  whose  jurisdiction  over  the  office  ended 
on  that  date,  when  it  became  a  part  of  the  Department  of  Com- 
merce and  Labor,  under  the  provisions  of  the  act  of  Congress, 
approved  February  14,  1903. 

A  supplemental  report  now  seems  desirable,  not  only  to 
describe  the  progress  of  census  work  in  the  interval,  but  to  out- 
line plans  for  the  future,  and  to  submit  certain  recommenda- 
tions and  suggestions  regarding  the  proper  field  and  function  of 
the  permanent  Census  Bureau. 

The  establishment  of  the  Census  on  a  permanent  basis  has  Organization  of 
made  necessary  some  radical  changes  in  the  organization  of  the  *81 

internal  work  of  the  office  and  in  the  plans  for  carrying  on 
future  investigations.  The  temporary  office  was  necessarily 
organized  into  four  main  technical  divisions,  with  such  additional 
divisions  as  were  required  for  administrative  purposes.  To  these 
four  divisions,  respectively,  was  committed  the  preparation  of  the 
main  reports  of  the  Twelfth  Census  on  population,  vital  statis- 
tics, agriculture,  and  manufactures.  When  these  reports  were 
completed  and  published,  the  duties  of  the  divisions  became  less 
clearly  defined;  and  in  readjusting  the  work  of  the  office  my 
predecessor  assigned  the  preparation  of  the  various  special 
reports  authorized  by  Congress,  with  a  view  to  keeping1  the 
main,  or  technical,  divisions  fully  employed,  and  insuring  simul- 
taneous progress  upon  all  the  inquiries.  This  policy  has  been 
followed  thus  far  with  satisfactory  results;  but  after  a  careful 

3 

286145 


Report     of     i  ;i  t      Director     of     the     Census 

\    _____ 

study  of  the  situation,  I  am  convinced  that  the  best  interests  of 
the  service  and  the  greatest  usefulness  of  the  Bureau  of  the 
Census  require  a  general  modification  of  the  plan  described. 

The  skeleton  organization  of  the  four  main  divisions  referred 
to,  each  in  charge  of  a  chief  statistician,  will  be  preserved 
intact,  but  a  system  of  general  cooperation  and  collaboration 
between  all  of  the  divisions  will  be  established,  under  which  it 
will  be  feasible  to  concentrate  most  of  the  clerical  force  of  the 
bureau  on  single  investigations,  thereby  greatly  increasing  the 
celerity  with  which  single  special  reports  can  be  prepared  and 
published. 

Incidentally  the  new  plan  of  administration  will  familiarize 
the  entire  staff  and  clerical  force  of  the  bureau  with  all  branches 
of  census  work,  thus  making  them  all  available  for  efficient 
service  at  any  given  time  at  the  point  where  their  work  can 
be  utilized  to  the  best  advantage. 

One  or  two  of  the  investigations  actually  begun  under  my 
predecessor  may  be  somewhat  delayed  by  this  new  arrangement 
of  the  work;  but  all  future  investigations  will  be  so  scheduled 
that  no  more  than  one  or  two  of  them  will  be  in  progress  at  the 
same  time;  and  the  net  result  will  be  to  increase  greatly  the 
speed  with  which  future  reports  can  be  completed. 

Groups  of  Inves-       The  work  of  the  Bureau  of  the  Census  naturally  arranges 
itself  into  groups  of  investigations,  as  follows: 

Continuous,  such  as  the  compilation  of  the  statistics  of  immi- 
gration (recently  transferred  to  this  bureau  by  your  order); 
and  the  cotton  production  investigation,  which  covers  nine 
months  of  the  3^ear. 

Miscellaneous,  including  such  special  reports  or  investigations 
as  may  be  ordered  by  the  President,  by  the  Secretary  of  Com- 
merce and  Labor,  or  by  Congress,  as  the  compilation  of  the 
Philippine  census  and  the  compilation  of  the  statistics  of  the 
classified  service  of  the  United  States,  recently  undertaken  by 
your  order. 

Annual,  such  as  the  statistics  of  births  and  deaths  in  registra- 
tion areas,  provided  for  by  the  act  establishing  the  permanent 
Census  Bureau. 

Biennial,  such  as  the  statistics  of  cities. 

Quinquennial,  such  as  the  census  of  manufactures. 

4 


to     the     S e  c  r  e  t  a  r y     of     Commerce     and     Labor 


Decennial,  the  census  proper,  which  is  divided  by  law  into 
two  groups,  the  -first  consisting  of  four  main  reports  (relating  to 
population,  manufactures,  agriculture,  and  vital  statistics),  and 
the  second,  of  special  decennial  reports. 

Of  the  investigations  already  under  way,  special  reports  011  Special  Investiga- 
tions in  Progress. 

employees  and  wages  and  on  occupations,  at  the  Twelfth  Cen- 
sus, are  now  completed  and  in  the  hands  of  the  Public  Printer. 
Other  special  reports  will  be  completed  and  issued  on  the  fol- 
lowing approximate  dates:  Irrigation  (called  for  by  special 
resolution  of  Congress),  December  i,  1903;  Electric  Railways, 
January  i,  1904;  Telegraphs  and  Telephones,  March  i,  1904; 
Interpretation  of  the  Twelfth  Census,  July  i,  1904;  and  Mines 
and  Quarries,  July  i,  1904. 

Other  inquiries  which  I  found  in  progress  when  I  became 
director  on  June  8,  1903,  are  the  annual  report  on  vital  statistics, 
the  report  on  children  born  and  children  living  at  the  Twelfth 
Census,  and  the  report  on  wealth,  debt,  and  taxation.  Work 
upon  the  two  latter  investigations  is  likely  to  be  somewhat 
delayed  or  temporarily  suspended,  in  order  that  the  clerical 
force  may  be  concentrated  upon  the  compilation  and  publication 
of  the  census  of  the  Philippine  Islands. 

This  census  was  taken  in  the  first  six  months  of  the  current  Compilation  of 
year,  pursuant  to  an  order  issued  by  the  President,  in  accord-  Census1 1?P1 
ance  with  section  6  of  the  act  of  Congress,  approved  July  i, 
1902,  entitled  "An  act  temporarily  to  provide  for  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  affairs  of  civil  government  in  the  Philippine 
Islands,  and  for  other  purposes,"  and  its  compilation  by  the 
Bureau  of  the  Census  will  be  undertaken  pursuant  to  another 
order  of  the  President,  dated  September  30,  1902,  issued  in 
compliance  with  a  request  of  the  Philippine  Commission,  under 
which  the  President  directed  the  employment  of  ' '  the  service 
of  the  United  States  Census  Bureau  in  the  compilation  and 
tabulation  of  all  Philippine  census  returns  transmitted  to  the 
Census  Bureau  by  the  government  of  the  Philippine  Islands, 
and  the  printing  and  distribution  of  the  printed  matter  in  con- 
nection therewith." 

Under  this  order  the  sole  function  of  the  Bureau  of  the  Census, 
in  connection  with  the  census  of  the  Philippines,  is  the  compila- 
tion of  the  data,  and  its  printing  and  distribution. 

5 


Report     of     the     Director     of     the      Census 

\ 

The  field  work  of  the  census  was  performed  tinder  the  direc- 
tion of  Gen.  Joseph  P.  Sanger,  detailed  for  that  purpose  by  the 
War  Department,  assisted  by  Mr.  Henry  Gannett,  of  the  United 
States  Geological  Survey,  and  Mr.  Victor  H.  Olmsted,  of  the 
Department  of  Agriculture,  both  of  whom  \vere  associated  writh 
General  Sanger  in  taking  the  recent  census  of  Cuba  and  that  of 
Porto  Rico.  The  nature  of  the  tables  to  be  prepared  will  be 
determined  by  General  Sanger  and  his  assistants,  who  also  will 
supply  the  accompanying  interpretative  text.  The  facilities  and 
experience  of  the  Bureau  of  the  Census  in  similar  work  are  to 
be  utilized,  in  accordance  with  the  President's  order,  to  secure 
economy  and  accuracy  in  compilation. 

Preparations  are  practically  completed  to  commence  the  tabu- 
lation of  the  returns  on  November  16,  and  the  work  will  be  done 
by  means  of  the  punched-card  system  and  automatic  tabulating 
machines.  In  accordance  with  the  plan  of  adjustment  of  the 
office  force,  to  which  reference  already  has  been  made,  it  is 
intended  to  detail  for  this  purpose  about  two  hundred  and  fifty 
clerks  from  the  other  work,  and  this  number  should  be  able  to 
complete  the  compilation  before  the  expiration  of  the  present 
fiscal  year. 

The  act  of  Congress  making  appropriations  ' '  to  supply 
deficiencies  in  the  appropriations  for  the  fiscal  year  ending 
June  30,  1903,  and  for  prior  years,  and  for  other  purposes," 
approved  March  3,  1903,  made  the  entire  unexpended  balance 
of  the  earlier  census  appropriation,  amounting  to  $402,268.29, 
available  for  the  employment  of  temporary  clerks,  and  for 
other  expenses  incident  to  the  compilation  of  the  Philippine 
census. 

Under  the  readjustment  of  work,  the  temporary  force  thus 
provided  for  will  become  unnecessary,  thus  effecting  a  very 
considerable  saving  in  the  total  cost  of  the  Census  Bureau  for 
the  fiscal  year,  and  at  the  same  time  insuring  the  highest 
degree  of  efficiency  in  the  w^ork. 

Statistics  of  Spe-        Three   other  inquiries,    for  which    preparations   are  now    in 

cial  Classes.         progress,  will  be  commenced  January  i,  1904.     These  inquiries 

(authorized  by  section   7  of  the  act  of   Congress  establishing 

the  permanent   Census  Office)  relate  to  the  deaf,  dumb,  and 

blind,   and  to   insanity,  feeble-mindedness,   crime,    pauperism, 

6 


to     the     Secretary     of    Commerce     and     Labor 


and  benevolence,  including  prisoners,  paupers  and  juvenile  delin- 
quents, and  inmates  of  benevolent  and  reformatory  institutions. 

The  names  and  addresses  of  the  deaf,  dumb,  and  blind  were 
gathered  upon  a  special  schedule  by  the  enumerators  of  the 
Twelfth  Census,  and  the  details  required  have  been  secured  by 
subsequent  correspondence.  The  statistics  resulting  from  this 
inquiry  are  now  being  tabulated,  and  an  analysis  is  to  be  pre- 
pared by  Dr.  Alexander  Graham  Bell,  of  Washington,  D.  C. 
I  hope  that  the  special  report  upon  the  deaf,  dumb,  and  blind 
may  be  completed  and  published  early  in  the  coming  year. 

The  remaining  statistics  of  this  character  have  been  divided 
into  two  general  classes,  for  each  of  which  a  report  will  be  pub- 
lished; one,  concerning  the  statistics  of  crime,  including  juvenile 
delinquents  and  reformatory  institutions,  to  be  made  under  the 
supervision  of  Dr.  Roland  P.  Falkner,  as  expert  special  agent; 
the  other,  to  present  the  statistics  concerning  inmates  of  all 
institutions  of  a  benevolent  or  semibenevolent  character.  This 
report  has  been  intrusted  to  the  supervision  of  Mr.  John  Koren, 
of  Boston,  as  expert  special  agent. 

It  has  long  been  apparent  to  students  of  criminology  and  the  Reform  in  the 
dependent   classes   that   radical   reform    was   necessary  in   the  handling  Statis- 
method  of  handling  statistics  relating  to  these  classes.     Oppor-  tics  °f  Special 
tunity  for  this  reform  has  been  afforded  by  the  establishment  of 
the  permanent  bureau. 

The  census  law  confines  the  statistics  of  special  classes  to  the 
inmates  of  institutions.  While  this  fact  deprives  these  statistics 
of  one  important  and  valuable  element,  namely,  a  complete  state- 
ment of  the  numerical  size  of  the  afHicted  classes,  with  the  ratio  of 
each  to  the  total  population,  it  is  a  fact,  thoroughly  demonstrated 
by  past  experience,  that  any  census  of  these  afflicted  classes, 
beyond  the  number  contained  in  institutions,  is  practically  im- 
possible. Efforts  have  been  made  to  secure  complete  returns  at 
several  censuses,  but  for  obvious  reasons  the  results  were  wholly 
unsatisfactory.  Heads  of  families  will  not  give  to  enumerators 
the  details  regarding  afHicted  members,  but  resort  to  any  means  to 
conceal  the  fact  that  there  are  afflicted  persons  in  their  families. 
Moreover,  it  has  been  found  that  to  ask  questions  of  this  char- 
acter tends  to  create  a  prejudice  against  the  census  greater  than 
arises  from  all  other  causes  combined.  Accepting  as  wise, 

7 


Report     of     the      Director     of     the      Census 
\    — — 

therefore,  the  action  of  Congress  in  confining  these  reports  to 
inmates  of  institutions,  it  becomes  necessary  to  plan  the  inquiry 
so  as  to  obtain  results  of  the  greatest  value  possible  within 
these  narrow  limits.  To  this  end  it  has  been  decided  to  secure 
returns  which  not  only  will  furnish  certain  details  concerning 
the  population  of  all  classes  of  institutions  on  a  given  date,  but 
which  also  will  measure  the  movement  of  the  population  of 
these  institutions  during  a  fixed  period,  namely,  one  year  from 
the  date  of  the  commencement  of  the  inquiry,  January  i,  1904. 
Improved  Pre-  The  first  feature  of  the  reports  will  be  comparable  with 

sentation  of  Re- 
turns, results  attained  at  the  Eleventh  Census.     The  second  feature 

will  develop  an  entirely  new  series  of  facts,  and  this,  in  my 
judgment,  will  constitute  the  most  valuable  portion  of  the 
reports  from  the  sociological  point  of  view.  The  statistics  of 
pauperism,  for  instance,  when  taken  as  of  a  given  date,  can 
present  no  adequate  picture  of  the  amount  of  pauperism  for 
which  the  community  pays,  and  can  convey  no  adequate  idea 
of  the  true  relationship  of  this  class  of  relief  to  the  economy  of 
a  community.  Under  the  plan  now  proposed  the  movement  of 
the  pauper  classes  through  almshouses  and  other  institutions  for 
their  care  will  be  measured  for  an  entire  year. 

It  is  the  judgment  of  students  of  criminology  that  the  number 
of  admissions  to  prisons,  reformatories,  etc.,  for  a  period  of  time, 
as  one  year,  constitutes  the  only  proper  basis  for  the  study  of 
the  statistics  of  this  subject.  Moreover,  it  is  the  basis  of  all 
similar  statistics  prepared  by  foreign  governments.  In  previous 
censuses  of  the  United  States  the  prison  population  at  a  given 
date  has  been  taken  as  the  sole  basis  for  the  statistics  of  penal 
institutions.  For  purposes  of  comparison,  a  similar  record  will 
be  made  of  these  institutions  as  of  January  i,  1904,  and  under 
the  plan  now  proposed  a  record  will  be  presented  of  the  admis- 
sions to  prisons,  reformatories,  etc.,  for  a  period  of  one  year. 

To  ascertain  the  quantity  of  crime  may  be  said  to  be  the 
object  of  criminal  statistics.  This  means  an  enumeration  of  the 
number  of  crimes  committed  in  a  given  community,  during  a 
given  period  of  time,  but  to  give  true  significance  to  the  figures 
obtained  they  must  be  brought  into  relation  with  the  popula- 
tion and  a  rate  obtained,  for  the  ultimate  object  of  statistics  of 
crime  is  to  obtain  a  ' '  crime  rate. ' '  Such  rates  may  be  calcu- 

8 


to     the     Secretary     of    Commerce     and     Labor 

lated  for  different  places,  for  different  periods,  for  different 
social  classes,  for  the  whole  body  of  crimes,  for  different  groups 
of  crimes,  or  for  specific  offenses.  The  prison  population  upon 
a  given  date,  however,  has  significance  only  as  it  represents  the 
average  for  the  year.  As  it  depends  altogether  upon  the  length 
of  the  sentences  imposed  upon  offenders,  it  is  clear  that  it  does 
not  actually  exhibit  the  amount  of  crime  committed,  and  it  is 
not  a  proper  basis  for  the  calculation  of  a  rate.  Thus  it  follows 
that  statistics  of  crime,  based  upon  the  prison  population  of  a 
given  date,  exaggerate  the  various  crimes  for  which  longer 
sentences  are  imposed,  and  minimize  the  importance  of  the  lesser 
offenses.  Of  the  latter,  the  number  for  which  imprisonment  is 
inflicted  for  a  short  period  of  time  only,  can  not  be  properly 
measured  by  a  static  census.  Every  comparison  of  crime  rates, 
based  on  static  figures,  must  be  seriously  vitiated  by  this 
fact. 

Accordingly,  in  both  of  the  investigations  above  indicated, 
the  inquiry  will  extend  over  the  entire  year  1904,  and  arrange- 
ments will  be  made  whereby  the  records  of  the  various  institu- 
tions may  be  copied  for  the  Census  Bureau  by  the  local  officials 
at  reasonable  rates  of  compensation. 

The  report  on  the  social  statistics  of  cities,  provided  for  in  Social  Statistics 
section  7  of  the  act  establishing  the  permanent  Census  Office, 
will  be  undertaken  early  in  the  calendar  year  1904.  These 
municipal  statistics  were  first  undertaken  at  the  census  of  1880, 
under  the  charge  of  the  late  George  E.  Waring,  Jr.,  and  were 
continued  at  the  census  of  1890,  under  the  supervision  of  Dr. 
J.  S.  Billings.  They  are  intended  to  show  for  each  large  city 
in  the  country,  incorporation,  population,  and  area  including 
altitude  and  topography,  city  officials,  police  and  fire  depart- 
ments, parks,  street  mileage,  pavements  and  lighting,  sewerage, 
waterworks,  education,  charities,  public  buildings,  boards  of 
health,  food,  and  sanitary  inspection,  places  of  amusement, 
saloons,  licenses,  public  vehicles,  suburban  travel,  cemeteries 
(including  area  within  and  without  city  limits),  and  statistics 
relating  to  interment,  valuation  of  property,  and  to  receipts  and 
expenditures.  They  are  thus  practically  similar  to  the  statis- 
tics of  cities  of  30,000  inhabitants  and  over,  which  have  been 
collected  by  the  Department  of  Labor,  in  accordance  with  the 

9 


Report     of     the     Director     of     the      Census 


Preparation  of 

Cities  trans- 
ferred  from  the 


of  the  Census. 


provisions  of  an  act  of  Congress  approved  July  i,  1898.  x 
Reports  were  published  by  the  Department  of  Labor  in  1899, 
1900,  1901,  and  1902. 

The  data  contained  in  these  city  reports  of  the  Department 
of  Labor  are  largely  comprehended  in  the  decennial  reports  on 
the  social  statistics  of  cities,  for  1880  and  1890,  and  now 
again  authorized  by  the  census  law.  In  view  of  this  fact  an 
effort  was  made  by  the  Commissioner  of  Labor,  acting  in 
cooperation  with  the  Director  of  the  Census,  shortly  after  the 
organization  of  the  permanent  Census  Bureau,  to  secure  leg- 
islation whereby  the  work  relating  to  cities  carried  on  by  the 
Commissioner  of  Labor  should  be  transferred  to  the  Bureau 
of  the  Census  and  coordinated  with  the  municipal  statistics 
contemplated  in  the  decennial  reports  on  this  subject.  A  bill 
was  reported  by  the  House  Committee  on  the  Census  under 
which  the  Census  Bureau  was  called  upon  to  collect  biennially 
statistics  of  cities  with  a  population  of  30,000  or  more,  of 
which  there  were  137  in  1900,  and  decennially  statistics  of 
cities  containing  a  population  of  less  than  30,000.  This  bill 
was  reported  favorably  to  the  House  of  Representatives  Feb- 
ruary 13,  1903,  accompanied  by  a  report  in  which  was  incor- 
porated a  letter  from  the  Commissioner  of  Labor  recommending 
the  transfer  of  the  work  to  the  Census  Bureau;  but  it  remained 
on  the  House  Calendar  at  the  expiration  of  the  Fifty-seventh 
Congress. 

Under  the  provisions  of  the  act  establishing  the  Department 
°^  Commerce  and  Labor,  the  Secretary  of  that  department 
issued  an  order  on  July  i,  1903,  on  the  recommendation  of  the 
Commissioner  of  Labor  and  the  Director  of  the  Census,  trans- 
ferring  from  the  Bureau  of  Labor  to  the  Bureau  of  the  Census 
all  the  work  on  the  statistics  of  cities.  Under  a  subsequent 
order  of  the  Secretary  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  dated  September 
n,  1903,  the  annual  report  of  the  statistics  of  cities  of  30,000 
population  and  over  was  omitted  for  the  year  1903.  This  was 
done  in  order  that  the  statistics  of  all  cities,  irrespective  of  size, 
might  be  collected  as  .of  the  same  date  and  as  a  part  of  the 
decennial  report  of  the  Census  Bureau.  Undoubtedly  that 


30  Stat.  I,.,  chap.  546,  page  648. 


to     the     S e cr e  t a  ry     of     Commerce      and     Labor 


order  and  the  subsequent  postponement  of  the  partial  annual 
report  will  add  materially  to  the  value  and  comparability  of  the 
entire  inquiry. 

Another  reason  for  postponement  lay  in  the  fact  that  the 
largest  and  most  important  series  of  inquiries  included  in  this 
investigation  relates  to  municipal  finance,  and  is  thus  identical 
in  character  with  the  similar  investigation  which  the  Bureau  of 
the  Census  is  now  conducting  upon  the  subject  of  wealth,  debt, 
and  taxation.  Therefore,  in  order  to  avoid  extensive  duplica- 
tion of  work  in  a  very  difficult  field,  it  is  proposed  to  utilize  in 
the  reports  on  the  social  statistics  of  cities,  information  obtained 
from  the  inquiry  concerning  wealth,  debt,  and  taxation. 

In  the  absence  of  any  legislation  on  the  part  of  Congress,  it 
is  considered  advisable  to  repeat  these  reports  for  cities  of  30,000 
population  and  over  at  intervals  of  two  years.  It  is  the  uni- 
form judgment  of  those  wTho  have  made  a  study  of  the  subject 
that  once  in  two  years  is  as  often  as  it  is  necessary  to  make  so 
important  and  expensive  a  report  as  is  contemplated  by  ex- 
isting legislation. 

Your  general  order  of  July  29,  1903,  directs  that  on  and  after  Statistics  of  Im- 
January  i,  1904,  the  statistics  of  immigration  shall  be  compiled  ™mpSby  the 
by  the  Census  Bureau.  This  was  one  of  the  most  obvious  and  Census  Bureau. 
important  of  the  statistical  reforms  made  possible  by  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor.  The 
immigrants  to  the  United  States  become  immediately  an  inte- 
gral part  of  our  population,  and  it  is  essential  that  their  social 
statistics  shall  be  gathered  upon  arrival  in  conformity  with  the 
population  schedule  of  the  census.  This  can  be  done  without 
any  modification  of  the  existing  requirements  of  the  law  regard- 
ing alien  manifests.  An  immediate  advantage  of  the  transfer 
will  be  the  harmonizing  of  the  tables  showing  the  country  of 
the  immigrant's  birth  with  the  census  tables  showing  birthplace 
of  the  foreign  born.  By  the  use  of  the  electric  tabulating 
machines  and  the  punched-card  system,  the  statistics  of  immi- 
gration can  be  presented  in  much  greater  detail  than  heretofore, 
at  a  much  smaller  cost  for  compilation. 

Immigration  to  this  country  has  been  so  steadily  increasing 
and  its  character  has  so  greatly  changed  that  the  time  seems 
opportune  to  recommend  legislation  which  will  permit  its  more 


Report     of     the     Director     of     the      Census 


accurate  statistical  measurement.  I  join  most  heartily  in  the 
recommendation  of  the  Commissioner- General  of  Immigration 
for  legislation  that  will  enable  us  to  measure  the  volume  of  alien 
emigration.  While  we  determine  with  approximate  accuracy 
the  number  of  incoming  aliens,  we  have  no  official  machinery 
for  ascertaining  the  number  who  annually  return  to  foreign 
countries.  There  can  be  no  accurate  .statistical  record  of 
the  changes  effected  in  the  character  of  our  population  by  immi- 
gration without  the  corresponding  details  of  emigration.  The 
number  of  these  returning  emigrants  is  large,  reaching  many 
thousands  a  year;  and  until  it  is  officially  ascertained  we  can 
not  hope  to  bring  the  statistics  of  immigration  into  conform- 
ity with  census  statistics  of  the  foreign  born. 

Estimates  of  Pop-  Estimates  of  population  are  now  made  by  the  Treasury 
Department,  for  the  purpose  of  measuring  the  per  capita  circu- 
lation of  money  and  for  other  purposes;  by  various  local  officials 
in  order  to  measure  the  annual  death  rate;  and  by  many  author- 
ities and  experts  for  a  variety  of  purposes.  There  can  be  no 
question  that  in  spite  of  the  margin  of  error  inseparable  from 
them  such  estimates  are  useful  and  necessary. 

It  is  found  also  that  in  most  of  the  reports  of  the  Census  Bureau 
made  in  the  intercensal  years  such  estimates  are  essential,  par- 
ticularly in  the  reports  relating  to  wealth,  debt,  and  taxation, 
social  statistics  of  cities,  and  mortality  statistics,  the  value  of 
which  depends  largely  upon  showing  the  relation  of  different 
factors  to  population  by  rates  or  percentages. 

It  is  clear  that  if  these  estimates  are  to  be  made  they  should 
all  come  from  the  same  official  source,  to  insure  uniformity,  and 
that  they  should  be  prepared  and  published  by  the  Census 
Bureau.  Its  corps  of  experts  is  always  at  work  investigating 
and  recording  changes  in  local  and  municipal  boundaries  and 
studying  the  incidents  of  migration  and  the  causes  of  increase 
and  decrease  in  population  at  particular  points.  Accordingly, 
the  Census  Bureau  proposes  to  publish  intercensal  estimates  of 
the  population  of  the  United  States  as  a  whole,  of  the  several 
states,  and  of  the  principal  cities.  The  general  plan  adopted 
for  these  periodical  estimates  of  population  was  formulated  by 
a  committee  appointed  for  that  purpose  by  my  predecessor, 
consisting  of  Chief  Statisticians  William  A.  King  and  William  C. 

12 


to     the     Secretary     of     Commerce     and     Labor 

Hunt,  and  Special  Agent  Walter  F.  Willcox.  The  report  of 
this  committee  contains  the  following  recommendations,  which 
have  been  approved: 

1.  That  the  population  be  estimated,  as  of  June  i  in  each  year 
subsequent  to  1900,  for  such  states  and  cities  as  may  be  neces- 
sary to  supply  data  for  the  periodical  reports,  as  indicated  by 
the  Chief  Statistician  in  charge. 

2.  That    the  estimate  of   population  of  individual  cities  be 
confined  to  cities  of  10,000  population  and  upwards,  the  urban 
population  of  each  state  in  cities  of  less  than  10,000  population 
to  be  computed  as  a  whole. 

3.  That  the  population  of  the  states — exclusive  of  cities  sepa- 
rately computed — be  computed  as  a  whole,  and  the  state  total 
obtained  by  addition  of  the  urban  and  rural  population  computed 
as  above. 

4.  That  the  Geographical  Division  be  directed  to  secure  infor- 
mation concerning  any  changes  in  the  boundaries  of  incorporated 
places,  to  be  taken  into  consideration. 

5.  That  the  method  of  estimating  employed  be  the  arithmetical 
method,  i.  e.,  that  the  growth  in  each  year  is  equal  to  one-tenth 
the  decennial   increase  or  one-fifth   the  quinquennial   increase 
between  the  two  last  censuses. 

6.  That  where  the  corporate  limits  of  cities  are  extended,  and 
the  new  territory  added  does  not  correspond  to  minor  civil  divi- 
sions or  enumeration  districts,  the  population  of  which  can  be 
determined,  local  inquiry  be  made  to  ascertain  the  approximate 
population  included. 

7.  That  a  further  investigation  be  made  to  determine  what 
checks  can  be  applied  to  secure  greater  accuracy  in  the  work. 

In  accordance  with  this  report  a  list  of  cities  and  towns  of 
8,000  population  and  upward  in  1900  has  been  prepared  in  this 
bureau,  and  already  inquiry  has  been  made  regarding  any  changes 
in  area  between  1890  and  1900  and  subsequent  to  1900  in  these 
cities,  thus  making  it  possible  to  determine  the  amount  of  popu- 
lation gained  or  lost  by  increase  or  decrease  in  area  resulting 
from  the  changes  in  boundary  lines.  It  has  been  determined 
that  the  Census  Bureau  will  accept  in  these  estimates  the  results 
of  intermediate  state  censuses,  but  that  it  will  not  adopt  the 
results  of  municipal  enumerations.  It  is  believed  that  when  the 

13 


Report     of     the     Director     of     the      Census 
\ 

population  is  satisfactorily  established  for  identical  areas  as  at  the 
last  two  censuses,  the  application  of  the  derived  rate  of  growth 
will  be  comparatively  easy.  The  first  publication  of  the  esti- 
mates of  growth  in  population  at  the  intercensal  years  will  be 
made  for  the  year  1903,  and  will  be  published  on  or  about 
January  15,  1904. 
Systematizing  The  establishment  of  the  permanent  bureau,  and  the  concentra- 

Statistical  Work. 

tion  111  one  department  of  so  many  bureaus  engaged  in  statisti- 
cal investigation,  has  placed  this  branch  of  Government  work 
on  a  new  basis.  It  is  now  possible  to  avoid  much  duplication, 
inconsistency,  and  contradiction  in  official  statistics,  and  to  more 
fully  develop  systematic,  uniform,  and  scientific  methods  of 
statistical  compilation.  The  opportunity  thus  presented  for 
coordination,  cooperation,  and  unification  is  one  of  the  most 
important  advantages  to  spring  from  the  establishment  of  the 
permanent  Census  Bureau.  Plans  for  taking  gradual  and  com- 
plete advantage  of  the  opportunity  are  now  maturing,  and 
already  important  preliminary  steps  have  been  taken.  These 
relate  chiefly  to  securing  general  harmony  between  the  official 
statistics  of  the  United  States  Government  and  of  the  several 
states,  municipalities,  and  other  local  authorities  engaged  in 
statistical  work  along  lines  more  or  less  cognate. 

The  absence  heretofore  of  any  central  statistical  bureau,  or 
clearing  house  as  it  may  be  called,  such  as  the  permanent  Cen- 
sus is  destined  to  become,  has  resulted  in  confusion,  discrepancy, 
and  discord  in  every  branch  and  variety  of  official  statistical 
investigation.  Independent  authorities  in  most  of  the  states  of 
the  Union,  and  in  all  of  our  great  cities,  have  been  carrying  on 
important  statistical  work,  much  of  it  intimately  associated  with 
the  regular  work  of  the  Federal  census;  but  they  have  made 
little  or  no  effort  to  secure  uniformity  and  comparability  with 
the  results  obtained  by  the  Federal  census.  In  consequence 
the  value  of  the  work  has  been  diminished,  and  the  usefulness 
of  Federal,  state,  and  municipal  work  of  this  character  has  been 
minimized. 

The  most  important  service  the  permanent  bureau  can  render 
official  statistics  of  every  description  will  be  in  the  direction 
of  standardizing  them,  thus  bringing  about  harmony  and  com- 
parability with  each  other.  The  first  task,  therefore,  to  present 

14 


v  v 

to     the     S e cr  e  t a  r  y     of    C  o  m  m  e  re  e     and     L  tfb  o  r 

itself  in  every  branch  of  inquiry  that  has  been  taken  up  by  the 
Census  Bureau  since  the  completion  of  the  main  work  of  the 
Twelfth  Census  has  been  to  secure  uniformity  of  inquiries  and 
schedules  of  the  census  with  those  of  the  state  and  municipal 
offices  engaged  in  contemporaneous  and  similar  inquiries. 
Steps  to  this  end  have  been  taken  in  every  field  of  pending 
investigation,  and  the  overtures  of  the  Census  Bureau  to  state 
and  local  officials,  for  cooperation  and  coordination  in  the  sta- 
tistical work  upon  which  both  are  engaged,  have  received  a 
most  courteous  and  sympathetic  response. 

There  is  a  widespread  belief  that  the  rapid  social  evolution  Importance  of 
and  complex  industrial  growth  of  the  United  States  call  fora  tistics  of  Popula- 
complete  Federal  census  more  frequently  than  every  ten  years.  tion- 
In  view  of  the  great  cost  of  an  enumeration  of  the  people, 
Congress  might  well  say  that  the  intermediate,  or  five-year, 
census  should  be  undertaken  by  the  individual  states,  and  to 
this  plan  there  would  undoubtedly  be  a  much  more  general 
response,  if  it  were  understood  that  the  permanent  Census 
Bureau  would  undertake  the  work  of  compiling  and  combining 
the  statistics  collected  by  all  the  states.  Even  if  a  considerable 
number  of  lesser  states  should  decline  to  undertake  the  quin- 
quennial enumeration  here  suggested,  the  value  of  the  work 
done  by  the  others  would  be  sufficient  to  warrant  such  an 
undertaking  by  the  National  Government.  Already,  however, 
thirteen  states  and  one  territory  take  a  census  of  population 
under  constitutional  or  statutory  requirements,  between  the 
decennial  Federal  censuses,  namely:  Florida,  Iowa,  Kansas, 
Massachusetts,  Michigan,  Minnesota,  New  Jersey,  New  York, 
Oklahoma,  Oregon,  Rhode  Island,  South  Dakota,  Utah,  and 
Wisconsin.1  The  Census  Bureau  is  now  in  correspondence 


1  The  following  thirteen  states  took  a  census  of  population  during  the 
last  decade:  Florida,  Iowa,  Kansas,  Massachusetts,  Michigan,  Minnesota, 
New  Jersey,  New  York,  Oregon,  Rhode  Island,  South  Dakota,  Utah,  and 
Wisconsin.  All  of  them  except  Michigan  ^894)  and  New  York  (1892) 
made  the  enumeration  in  1895.  One  territory,  Oklahoma,  took  a  census  in 
1902,  and  its  laws  provide  for  an  enumeration  every  two  years. 

Nine  additional  states  have  either  a  constitutional  or  statutory  provision 
for  a  census  at  interdecennial  periods,  namely:  Alabama  (if  United  States 
census  is  not  "full  and  satisfactory"),  Colorado,  Mississippi,  Nebraska, 
Nevada  (at  the  discretion  of  the  legislature),  North  Dakota,  South  Caro- 
lina (the  United  States  census  may  be  adopted  as  correct),  Washington, 
and  Wyoming. 

15 


Report     of     the     Director     of     the      Census 


Difficulties  and 
Progress  in  se- 
curing Vital  Sta- 
tistics. 


Legislation  re- 
quired to  secure 
Statistics  of 
Births  and 
Deaths. 


with  the  official  in  each  of  these  states  in  charge  of  the  popula- 
tion census  of  1905,  with  a  view  to  the  adoption  by  each  of 
them  of  the  Federal  census  population  schedule,  or  such  modifi- 
cation of  this  schedule  as  can  be  mutually  agreed  upon  for  its 
improvement.  It  is  now  believed  that  each  of  these  intermediate 
state  censuses  of  population  will  be  conducted  along  lines  com- 
parable with  the  ten-year  Federal  census,  and  thus  be  made  a 
perfect  supplement  to  it.  The  results  of  these  state  censuses, 
or  the  more  important  results;  can  be  compiled  readily  by  the 
Federal  Census  Bureau;  and  thus  we  shall  be  able  to  obtain  a 
return  of  the  population  in  1905  for  a  large  portion  of  the  Union 
(26  per  cent  in  1895),  from  which  the  remaining  portion  can  be 
estimated  with  substantial  accuracy. 

In  my  report  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Interior  for  the  fiscal 
year  ended  June  30,  1903,  I  outlined  the  great  amount  of  work 
that  has  been  done  already  by  the  Census  Bureau  in  carrying 
out  the  provisions  of  section  8  of  the  act  establishing  the  per- 
manent office,  which  provides  for  a  collection  of  the  statistics 
of  the  births  and  deaths  in  registration  areas  for  the  year  1902 
and  annually  thereafter.  It  is  unnecessary  again  to  recite  the 
practical  difficulties  experienced  in  complying  with  this  pro- 
vision of  law,  by  reason  of  the  confusion  of  method  and  the 
lack  of  uniformity  in  the  registration  records  of  the  different 
cities  where  vital  statistics  are  compiled  under  the  direction  'of 
some  municipal  authority.  The  progress  already  made  in  the 
direction  of  uniform  classification  and  uniform  registration  is 
most  gratifying.  Heretofore,  even  in  the  larger  cities,  vital 
statistics  have  been  extremely  defective  and  deficient,  but  it  is 
now  probable  that  the  energetic  missionary  work  of  the  Census 
Bureau  will  lead  gradually  to  the  high  standard  which  obtains 
for  this  class  of  statistics  in  many  foreign  countries. 

The  act  of  March  6,  1902,  provided  for  the  collection  of 
statistics  of  births  and  deaths  in  registration  areas  for  the 
year  1902  and  annually  thereafter,  but  several  practical  diffi- 
culties in  connection  with  this  work  already  have  appeared, 
and  an  amendment  to  the  existing  law  is  clearly  required. 
Annual  reports  upon  vital  statistics  were  authorized  by  Congress 
because  the  interval  between  the  decennial  census  reports  was 
considered  too  long  to  permit  satisfactory  comparison.  The 

16 


to     the     S  e  c  r  e  t  a  ry     of     Commerce     and     Labor 

lack  of  statistics  of  population,  however,  from  which  to  com- 
pute rates  and  ratios,  limits  the  usefulness  of  data  furnished 
by  annual  reports.  Moreover,  broader  and  more  reliable 
analysis  can  be  obtained  by  combining  the  figures  for  several 
years.  The  fact  that  the  calculation  of  rates  and  ratios  should 
be  based  upon  a  mean  population  suggests  at  once  the  wisdom 
of  making  the  census  date  the  mean,  and  covering  the  period 
five  years  before  and  five  years  afterwards.  We  have  in  hand 
the  necessary  population  details  for  the  ten-year  period,  1895  to 
1905,  and  will  have  all  mortality  returns  since  June  i,  1899. 
It  only  remains,  therefore,  to  secure  authority  to  gather  returns 
for  the  four  years  from  June  i,  1895  to  June  i,  1899,  from 
such  states  and  cities  as  can  supply  them.  This  plan  has  the 
unqualified  approval  of  the  American  Public  Health  Associa- 
tion and  of  all  prominent  students  of  vital  statistics. 

It  is  evident  also  that  some  immediate  change  is  necessary  in 
the  method  of  securing  the  returns  or  transcripts  of  records. 
Congress  authorized  payment  at  the  rate  of  2  cents  for  each 
death  reported,  but  it  has  been  found  that  the  compensation  is 
too  small  to  secure  proper  service,  and  in  some  cases  any  service 
at  all;  moreover,  the  transcripts  secured  are  unsatisfactory, 
being  generally  made  from  record  books  which  do  not  contain 
all  the  'information  reported  upon  the  death  certificates. 

It  is  especially  important,  therefore,  that  sufficient  compensa- 
tion be  allowed  to  secure  accurate  and  complete  transcription 
upon  Standard  Certificate  of  Death  blanks,  to  be  forwarded 
to  the  Census  Bureau  monthly  or  periodically,  thus  facilitating 
tabulation  in  this  office  and  greatly  increasing  the  accuracy  of 
the  reports.  The  increase  in  compensation  for  these  returns  can 
be  secured  readily  by  abandoning  the  payment  of  2  cents  per 
death,  and  employing  special  agents.  In  the  prosecution  of 
this  inquiry  the  importance  of  changes  thus  briefly  outlined 
can  scarcely  be  overestimated.  I  therefore  respectfully  suggest 
the  early  submission  to  Congress  of  the  following  amendment: 

That  section  8  of  the  act  of  March  6,  790?,  providing  for  a  permanent 
Census  Office,  be  amended  to  read  as  follows :  The  Director  of  the  Census  is 
hereby  authorized  to  prepare  and  publish  a  report  upon  mortality  statis- 
tics in  registration  areas  covering  the  ten-year  period,  1895  to  1905,  and  to 
obtain  transcripts. of  the  registration  records  of  deaths  from  June  i,  1895 
to  June  i,  1899,  in  states  and  cities  where  the  records  are  sufficiently  com- 

17 


Importance  of 
Collaboration 
between  the 
Federal  Census 
and  State  Sta- 
tistical Bureaus. 


Report     of     the     Director     of     the      Census 

plete  and  satisfactory  for  such  purpose.  And  there  shall  be  a  collection  of 
the  statistics  of  births  and  deaths  in  registration  areas  for  the  year  1902, 
and  annually  thereafter,  the  data  for  which  shall  be  obtained  only  from 
and  restricted  to  such  registration  records  of  such  states  and  municipali- 
ties as  in  the  discretion  of  the  Director  possess  records  affording  satis- 
factory data  in  necessary  detail.  And  for  the  purpose  of  securing  the 
returns  required  by  this  section,  the  Director  may  employ  special  agents 
when  necessary. 

I  consider  the  question  of  collaboration  between  the  Federal 
census  and  the  several  state  statistical  bureaus  one  of  great  and 
growing  importance.  I  may  direct  your  attention  to  the  fact 
that  in  recent  years  there  has  been  an  enormous  increase  in  the 
amount  and  enlargement  in  the  scope  of  the  statistical  work 
done  under  state  authority.  In  many  states  there  are  mining 
bureaus  or  boards  of  mining  inspectors;  boards  of  agriculture; 
state  geologists;  state  boards  of  charities;  boards  which  compile 
statistics  of  the  criminal,  delinquent,  and  defective  classes;  rail- 
way and  electric-light  commissions;  forestry  commissions;  and 
boards  of  health  or  vital  statistics;  all  of  them  regularly  engaged 
in  work  which  touches  closely  at  some  point  the  work  assigned 
by  Congress  to  the  permanent  Census  Bureau. 

The  statistical  data  compiled  by  these  boards  in  the  forty-five 
states  of  the  Federal  Union  constitute  a  mass  of  statistical 
material  which  is  growing  so  rapidly  from  year  to  year  that  it 
is  no  longer  possible  for  any  private  library  to  find  room  for 
it,  and  very  few  public  libraries  can  do  so,  while  the  indi- 
vidual student  of  statistics  is  overwhelmed  and  lost  when  he 
seeks  to  secure  by  personal  research  all  the  available  data. 
No  attempt  is  anywhere  made  to  correlate  and  compare  this 
vast  accumulation  of  statistical  facts.  While  a  certain  gen- 
eral similarity  runs  through  the  kindred  statistics  of  the 
several  states,  their  most  striking  characteristic  is  a  lack  of 
scientific  homogeneity.  No  one  can  compare  the  kindred  sta- 
tistics of  one  state  with  those  of  another  with  certainty  that 
they  are  truly  comparable  in  any  given  particular,  and  at  many 
points  they  are  hopelessly  out  of  joint  with  each  other,  and 
therefore  useless  or  misleading  in  any  comparative  study. 
They  may,  and  probably  do,  answer  local  and  state  requirements, 
but  for  the  larger  purpose  of  general  statistical  study  their  use- 
fulness is  greatly  limited. 

18 


to     the     S  e  cr  e  t  a  r  y     of     Commerce     and     Labor 

In  a  scheme  for  the  National  unification  of  official  statistics  Advantages  of 
at  every  point  where  the  work  of  the  Census  Bureau  touches  Co°Peratlon- 
the  statistical  work  of  any  bureau,  board,  or  commission,  in  any 
state,  effort  should  be  made  to  secure  uniformity  in  date  of 
investigation,  schedules  of  inquiry,  and  scope  of  tabulation, 
thus  securing  uniformity  in  results  and  a  basis  for  the  compar- 
ative use  of  these  statistics.  Every  state  canvass  would  then 
supplement  every  National  canvass;  the  actual,  practical  value 
of  both  would  be  multiplied  many  times,  and  the  Census  would 
be  saved  the  expense  of  making  many  canvasses  which  the 
states  also  make — a  saving  to  be  divided  between  them.  The 
question  of  economy,  however,  is  of  little  importance  compared 
with  the  intrinsic  improvement  of  official  statistical  work. 

The  Census  Bureau  has  had  already  several  opportunities  Practicability  of 
of  demonstrating  the  practicability  of  a  working  arrangement 
with  state  boards  and  officials.  In  the  recent  investigation 
of  electric  railways,  arrangements  were  made  whereby  the 
reports  submitted  to  the  latter  by  all  the  street  railway 
corporations  in  these  several  states  were  placed  at  the  serv- 
ice of  the  Census  Bureau,  thus  saving  this  office  many 
thousands  of  dollars  in  field  work  and  bringing  the  state  and 
the  census  reports  into  harmony  with  each  other.  Similar 
cooperation  was  effected  in  a  more  limited  field  in  the  Census 
report  on  electric  light  and  power  stations. 

The  most  important  field  for  National  .and  state  cooperation 
in  statistical  w7ork  is  in  connection  with  the  state  bureaus  of 
labor  statistics,  of  which  there  are  some  thirty,  charged  with 
the  duty  of  making  reports  regarding  the  condition  and  progress 
of  manufactures  and  of  the  labor  engaged  in  manufacturing 
industries.  Heretofore  there  has  been  little  uniformity  of 
method  in  the  work  of  these  bureaus,  such  as  would  permit  exact 
comparison  between  the  results  obtained  in  the  several  states 
or  in  the  Federal  census.  The  practical  value  of  these  indus- 
trial statistics  has  been  greatly  circumscribed  by  this  absence  of 
similarity  in  method  and  the  impossibility,  in  consequence,  of 
ascertaining  comparative  conditions  from  the  several  reports. 

The  attention  of  the  present  Director  was  early  drawn  to  the 
possibilities  of  definite  cooperation  between  these  bureaus  and 
the  permanent  Census,  and  a  general  scheme  was  devised 

19 


Report     of     the     Director     of     the      Census 

whereby  the  latter  might  be  made  a  central  clearing  house, 
through  which  this  great  mass  of  statistical  material  may  be 
brought  gradually  into  a  harmonious  and  consistent  whole,  each 
report  of  every  state  bureau  supplementing  every  other,  and  all 
of  them  worked  out  on  lines  so  similar  to  the  five  and  ten  year 
reports  of  the  census  that  the  results  would  be  practically  a 
continuous  census  report,  thus  avoiding  a  vast  amount  of  dupli- 
cation which  now  occurs  and  saving  much  monej'  which  is  now 
wasted. 

Cooperation  ap-  This  plan  was  submitted  to  the  annual  convention  of  the 
Commissioners  of  officials  of  state  bureaus  of  labor  held  in  Washington,  D.  C., 
State  Bureaus  of  on  April  28  last,  by  which  body  it  was  unanhnously  ap- 
proved. The  report  of  the  committee  to  which  the  subject 
was  referred  is  submitted  in  a  footnote.1  In  accordance  with 
this  report,  a  special  committee  was  appointed,  with  Mr. 
W.  M.  Steuart,  chief  statistician  of  the  division  of  manufac- 
tures of  the  Census  Bureau,  as  chairman.  This  committee  is 
now  in  active  correspondence  with  all  the  state  bureaus  of  labor 
statistics  in  planning  uniform  schedules  of  inquiry  and  uniform 
methods  of  tabulation.  It  is  meeting  with  the  most  encoura- 
ging response,  and  I  look  upon  the  results  which  must  ultimately 
spring  from  its  labors  as  a  most  important  reform  and  advance  in 
official  statistics,  directly  due  to  the  establishment  of  the  perma- 
nent Census  Bureau.  The  first  result  of  this  cooperative  move- 
ment is  an  arrangement  whereby  the  Census  Bureau  will  join 
forces  with  the  census  authorities  of  the  commonwealth  of  Mas- 
sachusetts in  taking  the  manufacturing  census  of  that  state  in 
1905,  for  which  provision  is  made  in  the  act  establishing  a  per- 
manent census.  Without  this  cooperation  there  would  have  been 
two  manufacturing  censuses  of  Massachusetts  in  that  year,  which 
would  not  have  agreed  with  each  other,  and  of  course  would 


1  NINETEENTH  ANNUAL  CONVENTION  OF  THE  ASSOCIATION  OF  OFFI- 
CIALS OF  BUREAUS  OF  LABOR  STATISTICS. 

Report  of  committee  on  cooperation  of  Federal  and  state  governments 
in  the  collection  of  statistics  and  resolutions  of  the  association. 

The  undersigned  committee  was  appointed  at  the  Eighteenth  Convention 
of  the  Association  of  Officials  of  Bureaus  of  Labor  Statistics  held  at  New 
Orleans  April  1-5,  1902,  in  accordance  with  the  following  resolution: 

"Whereas  the  act  of  Congress,  approved  March  6,  1902,  establishing 
a  permanent  Census  Office,  provides  for  the  collection  of  various  classes  of 
statistics  which  in  some  degree  and  at  different  times  the  bureaus  of  labor 

20 


to     the     S  e  cr  e  t  a  ry     of     Commerce     and     Labor 


have  cost  twice  the  sum  of  money  which  will  now  be  expended  by 
the  United  States  and  the  commonwealth  in  conjunction.  Simi- 
lar arrangements  are  pending  with  the  bureaus  in  other  states. 

and  other  statistical  offices  in  the  several  states  collect  for  their  respective 
localities;  and 

"Whereas  said  act  provides  for  the  collection  in  1905,  and  every  ten 
years  thereafter,  of  statistics  of  manufactures  confined  to  manufacturing 
establishments  under  the  factory  system;  and 

"Whereas  it  is  desirable  that  the  work  of  the  state  bureaus  and  that  of 
the  permanent  Census  Office  of  the  Federal  Government  should  be  brought 
into  cooperative  relations  through  the  adoption  of  some  plan  by  which  the 
work  of  the  Federal  and  state  governments  in  the  lines  indicated  can  be 
made  practically  uniform:  Therefore,  be  it 

"Resolved,  That  in  order  to  secure  proper  cooperation  between  the  Fed- 
eral Census  Office  and  the  various  state  bureaus  a  committee  of  four  be 
appointed,  of  which  committee  the  president  of  this  association  shall  be 
one,  to  confer  with  the  Director  of  the  Federal  Census  and  to  represent  the 
interests  and  work  of  the  state  labor  bureaus;  and,  further,  that  in  con- 
ference with  the  Director  such  Federal  and  state  legislation  as  may  be 
necessary  for  securing  cooperative  relations  be  considered  and  reported, 
with  other  recommendations,  at  the  next  meeting  of  this  association." 

The  committee  has  been  in  conference  with  the  Director  of  the  Census 
and  has  found  him  in  entire  harmony  with  the  spirit  and  purpose  of  the 
above  resolution.  The  terms  and  proposals  of  this  report  meet  with  his 
hearty  sympathy,  and  the  United  States  Census  Office  may  be  relied  upon 
to  cooperate  with  the  several  state  bureaus  of  labor  statistics  in  all  lines  of 
investigation  where  such  cooperation  is  found  to  be  feasible  and  desirable. 
It  should  be  understood  also  that  there  is  no  disposition  on  the  part  of  the 
Census  Office  to  minimize  the  work  of  the  state  bureaus,  to  restrict  or 
to  control  the  nature  or  extent  of  the  inquiries  they  are  conducting,  or  to 
interfere  in  any  way  with  their  initiative  or  their  functions.  It  is  believed 
by  the  Director,  and  your  committee  concurs  in  the  belief,  that  the  results 
of  cooperation,  such  as  is  now  suggested,  will  be  to  improve  the  quality  of 
the  work  both  of  the  state  bureaus  and  of  the  Census  Office,  and  to  add 
materially  to  the  dignity  and  strength  of  both. 

The  committee  suggests  collaboration  and  coordination  between  the 
Census  Office  and  the  state  bureaus  with  a  view  to  unification  in  the  similar 
work  of  these  offices.  The  secondary  and  not  less  important  result  to 
follow  from  this  unification  will  be  a  gradual  bringing  together  of  like 
data  collected  by  all  the  state  bureaus,  thus  making  possible,  in  time, 
accurate  comparison  of  the  results  reported  by  all  the  state  bureaus. 

In  a  word,  the  purpose  of  this  movement  is  the  standardizing  of  indus- 
trial statistics. 

By  collaboration  is  meant  joint  and  cooperative  work  in  the  gathering 
of  the  material  for  statistical  reports,  i.  e. ,  in  the  field  work.  By  coordi- 
nation is  meant  concert  of  action  in  the  preparation,  tabulation,  and  com- 
pilation of  the  results  of  field  work,  with  a  view  to  uniform  schedules  of 
inquiry,  harmonious  and  consistent  results,  and  the  establishment  of  a 
scientific  basis  of  comparison  between  state  and  Federal  industrial  investi- 
gations. 

The  opportunities  for  and  advantages  of  such  cooperation  and  coordina- 
tion were  fully  set  forth  in  the  remarks  of  Hon.  Carroll  D.  Wright,  United 
States  Commissioner  of  Labor,  and  Mr.  William  M.  Steuart,  Chief  of  the 
Division  of  Manufactures  in  the  Twelfth  Census,  at  the  New  Orleans  con- 
vention, and  need  not  be  repeated  here  in  detail.  These  advantages  may 
be  summed  up  as  follows: 

a.  It  will  insure  uniformity  in  schedules,  methods,  and  results,  and  thus 

21 


Report     of     the     Director     of     the      Census 


Value  of  Coop- 
eration in  secur- 


Fully  as  important  as  the  movement  for  reform  in  industrial 

,     statistics,   and   more   perplexing   and   difficult   of   accomplish- 
ing Statistics  or  .  r 

Wealth,  Debt,      meiit,  is  the  effort  of  the  Census  Bureau  to  secure  uniformity 
and  Taxation.       in  the  statistics  of  wealth,  debt,  and  taxation. 

make  possible  comparisons  between  the  state  and  Federal  investigations 
upon  the  same  subjects  and  between  the  reports  of  the  several  states  from 
year  to  year. 

b.  It  will  obviate  the  necessity  and  disadvantages  of  constant  duplica- 
tion of  work. 

r.  It  will  effect  a  saving  of  expense  both  to  the  Federal  Government  and 
to  the  several  states. 

Participation  in  these  advantages  will  be  mutual.  They  will  accrue  to 
the  several  states  in  the  following  ways  among  others: 

1.  By  giving  to  trained  statisticians  in  state  offices  the  supervision,  within 
their  own  states,  of  the  field  work  of  the  Census  Office,  when  the  latter  is 
undertaken  in  collaboration,   allowing  them  suitable  compensation  for 
their  services. 

2.  By  depositing  in  the  state  bureaus,  whenever  desired,  complete  rec- 
ords of  the  census  work  for  that  state,  and  by  allowing  state  publication 
of  the  results  simultaneously  with  their  publication  by  the  Census  Office. 

3.  By  saving  to  the  state  a  large  part  of  the  expense  of  supervision,  field 
work,  tabulation,  and  compilation. 

4.  By  the  insertion  upon  the  several  schedules  of  inquiry  or  by  the  use 
of  supplemental  schedules  embodying  special  local  questions  in  any  state 
that  may  desire  to  gather  information  in  addition  to  that  called  for  upon 
the  Census  Office  schedules. 

5.  As  time  passes  the  Census  Office  will  require,  in  the  several  states, 
a  permanent  headquarters  or  central  state  office,  and  particularly  at  the 
periods  of  the  decennial  censuses.     A  state  office,  equipped  with  experi- 
enced officials  and  clerks,  will  offer  superior  inducements,  as  compared 
with  a  temporary  office  of  its  own. 

The  practicability  of  the  proposed  cooperative  work  between  the  Census 
Office  and  the  several  state  bureaus  of  labor  statistics  is  demonstrated  by 
the  annexed  agreement  (Appendix,  page  17),  already  effected  between 
the  Census  Office  and  the  Bureau  of  Statistics  of  Labor  of  Massachusetts, 
whereby  but  one  canvass  is  to  be  made  for  the  manufacturing  census  of 
1905  in  that  state  under  the  joint  auspices  of  the  two  offices.  By  this 
agreement  the  state  of  Massachusetts  will  be.  saved  the  expenditure  of 
about  $32, ooo,  being  the  amount  expended  for  field  work  in  that  state  in 
the  collection  of  the  statistics  of  manufactures  for  the  Twelfth  Census  of 
the  United  States. 

The  Census  Office  has  already  successfully  inaugurated  the  proposed 
plan  of  cooperation  and  coordination,  through  the  courtesy  of  the  officials 
of  another  group  of  state  offices,  in  connection  with  its  forthcoming  reports 
on  street  railways  and  electric  light  and  power.  The  Electric  Light  and 
Power  Commission  of  Massachusetts  and  the  railroad  commissions  of 
Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  New  York,  Pennsylvania,  Illinois,  and  other 
states  have  permitted  the  Census  Office  to  make  copies  of  all  the  reports 
received  by  them  from  the  individuals  and  corporations  doing  business 
within  these  states  and  required  by  law  to  make  annual  reports  to  these 
commissions. 

This  assistance  has  saved  the  Federal  Census  many  thousand  dollars  in 
field  work,  and  has  relieved  the  corporations  in  question  of  the  necessity 
of  making  out  two  sets  of  returns  covering  practically  the  same  data  for 
slightly  different  periods  of  time.  The  only  additional  field  work  required 
by  the  Census  Office  in  these  states  has  been  where  the  questions  on  the 


to     the     S  e  cr  e  t  a  ry     of     Co  m  m  er ce     and     Labor 

This  bureau  is  now  engaged  in  the  preparation  of  the  decen- 
nial report  on  these  subjects,  which  the  act  establishing  the 
permanent  census  authorizes  it  to  make.  The  first  report  upon 
wealth,  debt,  and  taxation  was  made  at  the  census  of  1880.  In 

state  and  Federal  schedules  have  differed.  It  is  believed  that  in  the  course 
of  time  a  practical  uniformity  in  the  forms  of  schedules  used  by  the  Census 
Office  and  by  the  several  street  railway  commissions  will  result  from  this 
cooperation, "and  that  there  will  thus  accrue  an  ultimate  advantage  of  the 
highest  scientific  importance. 

It  must  necessarily  be  a  work  of  many  years  to  fully  develop  collabora- 
tion and  coordination  among  so  many  states;  but  the  advantages  to  accrue 
to  statistical  science  are  so  obvious,  so  numerous,  and  so  important  that 
the  end  is  worthy  of  the  most  earnest  endeavor  and  the  hearty  coopera- 
tion of  all  concerned. 

It  appears  to  the  committee  that  the  bureaus  of  labor  statistics  offer  the 
most  practical  and  the  most  important  field  in  which  to  inaugurate  the 
proposed  plan.  A  careful  consideration  has  convinced  the  committee  that 
this  cooperation  between  the  Census  Office  and  the  state  bureaus  of  labor 
can  be  begun,  and  perhaps  carried  out,  in  all  the  states,  without  addi- 
tional legislation  on  the  part  of  any  of  them.  The  Director  of  the  United 
States  Census  has  full  authority,  under  the  present  law,  to  effect  and  to 
carry  out  the  plan  of  cooperative  work  suggested  in  this  report. 

The  committee  therefore  recommends  that  the  following  resolutions  be 
adopted  by  this  convention: 

Resolved,  That  the  report  of  the  special  committee  on  collaboration  and 
coordination  between  the  United  States  Census  Office  and  the  several  state 
bureaus  of  labor  be  adopted  as  the  sense  of  this  convention;  and  that  the 
chiefs  of  the  several  state  bureaus  be  requested  to  communicate  directly 
with  the  Census  Office,  and  to  furnish  said  office  with  a  detailed  statement 
of  the  special  investigations  and  reports  which  they  are  required  by  law  to 
make,  or  which  they  may  contemplate  on  their  own  initiative,  with  copies 
of  such  blanks,  schedules,  and  other  forms  as  are  used  or  contemplated  in 
these  investigations  and  reports,  in  so  far  as  they  relate  to  the  subjects 
covered  by  the  census  law,  with  a  view  to  such  modifications  of  said 
blanks,  schedules,  and  forms  as  may  be  necessary  and  agreed  upon  as  a 
basis  for  future  cooperation  in  the  work  of  the  offices. 

Resolved,  That  a  permanent  committee  of  three  be  appointed  by  the 
president  to  take  into  consideration  the  schedules  now  in  use,  or  contem- 
plated, by  the  Federal  Census  Office  and  the  statistical  offices  of  the  several 
states,  with  a  view  to  harmonizing  the  same.  Said  committee  is  to  report 
at  the  next  annual  meeting  upon  the  best  methods  to  be  adopted  for 
securing  a  degree  of  harmony  in  scope,  schedules,  instructions,  and  tabu- 
lations for  the  inquiries  to  be  conducted  by  the  Federal  Census  Office  and 
the  state  offices  during  the  year  1905. 

Resolved,  That  the  commissioner  of  each  state  be  requested  to  commu- 
nicate to  the  above  committee  what  additional  legislation,  if  any,  is  nec- 
essary or  desirable  in  his  own  state  in  order  to  carry  out  the  plan  of  this 
report. 

Respectfully  submitted. 

CARROLL  D.  WRIGHT, 
WILLIAM  ANDERSON, 
JOHN  MCMACKIN, 
CHARLES  F.  PIDGIN, 

Committee. 

APRIL  28,  1903. 

23 


Report     of     the     Director     of     the     Census 


view  of  the  obstacles  encountered,  that  report  and  the  next  one, 
for  1890,  possess  a  gratifying  degree  of  accuracy  and  value. 
Guided,  however,  by  this  early  experience,  and  profiting  by  the 
longer  time  and  greater  deliberation  made  possible  by  the 
complete  separation  of  this  investigation  from  the  emergency 
work  of  the  census  proper,  the  office  will  now  be  able  to  present 
a  more  complete  and  accurate  account  of  public  finance  in  all 
its  aspects — National,  state,  county,  municipal,  and  local — than 
ever  before  has  been  possible  in  any  country.  In  many  respects 
this  is  the  most  important  single  investigation  committed  by  law 
to  the  Census.  The  question  of  taxation,  involving  the  cost  of 
government,  the  distribution  of  this  cost  among  its  several  items, 
and  the  relative  cost  of  these  items  in  one  community,  as  compared 
with  similar  communities,  is  the  most  important  one  in  every 
locality,  and  the  one  regarding  which  it  is  possible  for  the 
Bureau  of  the  Census  to  be  of  the  most  practical  service  to  each 
civil  entity. 

But  the  difficulties  in  the  way  of  its  successful  accomplishment 
are  almost  incredible.  Uniformity  of  accounting  in  the  expend- 
iture of  public  money  for  whatever  purpose  is  practically 
unknown.  No  two  states,  no  two  cities,  no  two  counties  in  a 
state,  no  two  towns  in  a  county,  observe  uniform  methods  of 
bookkeeping  or  classification  of  accounts.  To  bring  the  results 
of  this  diverse  financial  bookkeeping  into  something  like  orderly 
and  comparable  statistics  is  the  work  of  the  Census  Bureau  after 
having  collected  the  data  from  its  several  official  sources. 

At  best  the  results  must  be  unsatisfactory,  but  a  vast  improve- 
ment in  them  as  compared  with  the  similar  work  at  previous 
censuses  is  observable  in  the  states  of  Alabama,  California, 
Louisiana,  Maine,  Massachusetts,  New  York,  North  and  South 
Dakota,  Ohio,  Virginia,  and  Wyoming,  in  all  of  which  laws 
have  been  passed  which  enforce  uniform  public  accounting  to 
a  greater  or  less  degree.  Agitation  for  similar  legislation  in 
other  states  is  in  progress  and  is  encouraged  and  made  effective 
by  the  work  of  many  volunteer  students  of  the  subject,  acting 
individually  or  through  associations.  Prominent  in  this  work  is 
the  National  Municipal  League,  with  whose  officials  the  Census 
Bureau  has  been  in  constant  correspondence  and  conference,  for 
the  purpose  of  extending  such  aid  and  cooperation  as  can  be 

24 


to     the     S  e  cr  e  t  a  ry     of     Commerce     and     L  a  5  or 

supplied  from  its  own  experience  and  from  its  official  records. 
As  this  movement  progresses,  the  value  of  the  census  reports  on 
wealth,  debt,  and  taxation  will  be  greatly  increased  and  the  labor 
of  their  preparation  correspondingly  reduced. 

In  the  discussion  which  preceded  the  enactment  of  the  law  Standardization 
establishing  the  permanent  Census  Office,  the  standardization  ^^"1^ j™tify 
of  state  and  municipal  statistics  with  those  of  the  Federal  census  Permanence  of 
was  not  advanced  as  an  argument  in  favor  of  the  change,  but  Bure^8"8 
the  creation  of  the  permanent  bureau  immediately  opened  an 
almost  unlimited  opportunity  for  improvement  in  general  statis- 
tical methods  and  results.     To  lead  the  way  by  example,  co- 
operation, and  advice  in  reducing  the  huge  mass  of  ill-arranged 
state  and  municipal  returns  to  orderly  and  comparable  statistics 
is  a  task  of  far-reaching  importance.     I  feel  profoundly  con- 
vinced, therefore,   that  the  first  year  of  the  existence  of  the 
permanent  Census  Bureau  has  not  only  shown  the  sufficiency  of 
the  reasons  which  were  originally  advanced  in  behalf  of  the 
bureau,  but  has  developed  a  new  field  of  usefulness,  practically 
overlooked  in  the  original  discussion,  and  important  enough  in 
itself  to  justify  the  establishment  of  the  permanent  office. 

In  separating  the  special  reports  of  the  Census  from  the  main 
reports,  the  wisdom  of  Congress  has  been  demonstrated  already 
by  the  much  more  satisfactory  results  attained  in  the  former 
and  the  greater  confidence  which  can  be  placed  in  the  data  pub- 
lished and  hereafter  to  be  published.  We  are  pursuing  our 
work  upon  these  special  reports  with  a  corps  of  trained  clerks, 
all  of  them  specially  selected  for  their  aptitude  and  efficiency. 
Most  of  these  clerks  we  hope  to  retain  in  the  bureau  so  that 
they  may  be  utilized  in  the  great  task  of  taking  and  compiling 
the  Thirteenth  Census.  Through  them,  and  more  especially 
through  the  experts  in  the  several  divisions,  there  will  be  pre- 
served a  continuity  in  the  methods  of  the  bureau,  a  knowledge 
of,  and  adhesion  to,  its  traditions,  with  an  avoidance  of  the 
errors  and  the  waste  which  inevitably  occur  in  building  a  new 
office  from  the  beginning. 

The  officials  of  the  bureau  are  taking  advantage  also  of  the  Improvements  in 
opportunity  (which  never  existed  under  the  temporary  census  Acctrf 
organization)  to  constantly  study  and  secure  improvement  in  the  Bureau, 
method  and  the  attainment  of  greater  accuracy.     In  short,  the 

25 


Report     of     the     Director     of     the      Census 


Representation 
at  the  Louisiana 
Purchase 
Exposition. 


Bureau  of  the  Census  has  already  become  a  great  statistical  and 
sociological  laboratory  in  which  the  inexhaustible  material 
supplied  by  the  schedules  can  be  analyzed  and  properly  classi- 
fied and  conclusions  weighed  and  tested  before  they  are 
announced.  Already,  by  your  order,  and  in  accordance  with 
your  general  plan  of  concentrating  all  the  statistical  work  of 
the  department,  so  far  as  possible,  in  the  Bureau  of  the  Census, 
two  important  branches  of  statistical  inquiry  have  been  trans- 
ferred to  the  permanent  bureau,  and  the  office  is  now7  so  organized 
and  equipped  that  it  is  prepared  to  handle  with  celerity,  economy , 
and  accuracy,  any  additional  statistical  inquiries  which  may  be 
intrusted  to  it,  either  by  your  order,  under  the  law  establishing 
the  Department  of  Commerce  and  Labor,  or  by  the  authority 
of  Congress. 

Early'  in  June  Hon.  Carroll  D.  Wright,  who  had  been  placed 
in  charge  of  the  representation  of  the  Department  of  Commerce 
and  Labor  at  the  Louisiana  Purchase  exposition,  allotted  to  the 
Census  Bureau  600  square  feet  of  floor  space  for  its  exhibit, 
and  the  sum  of  $2,500  for  the  expenses  connected  therewith. 
Both  the  space  and  the  appropriation  are  less  than  were 
requested,  but  the  plans  of  this  bureau  have  been  modified 
accordingly,  and  the  census  exhibit  will  include: 

1.  Illustrations, — A  series  of  illustrations  on  a  large  scale, 
similar  to  the  diagrams  and  maps  used  in  the  Statistical  Atlas 
for  illustrating  the  statistics  of  the  Twelfth  Census.     The  most 
important  part  of  this  exhibit  will  consist  of  twelve  large  wall 
maps  representing  the  distribution  of  the  population  at  each 
census,   and  collectively  showing  the  progress  of  the  United 
States  in  population. 

2.  Mechanical  tabulation. — The  machine  used  for  tabulating 
purposes  by  Colonel  Seatoii  in  the  Tenth  Census;  the  tabulat- 
ing machine  used  in  the  Eleventh  Census;  punching  machines; 
the  new  automatic  tabulating  machine;  and  an  automatic  sort- 
ing machine.     Of  these  machines  those  which  represent  the 
system  now  in  use  will  be  in  operation  to  show  the  manner  in 
which  the  data   relating  to  population  and    agriculture  were 
punched  on  cards  and  tabulated. 

3.  Census  schedules,  reports,  and  blanks. — Bound  volumes  of 
the  schedules  returned  by  the  enumerators  at  each  census  from 

26 


to     the     S  e  cr  e  t  a  ry     of    Commerce     and  '  L  a  b  or  ' 

1790  to  1900,  inclusive;  copies  of  the  printed  census  reports 
issued  at  each  census;  and  a  full  set  of  the  1,735  blank  forms 
printed  for  and  used  by  the  Twelfth  Census. 

The  annual  report  of  the  Director  of  the  Census  for  the  fiscal  Expenses  and 
year  ended  June  30,  1903,  submitted  to  the  Secretary  of  the  In- 
terior, shows  the  total  disbursements  of  the  bureau  to  have  been 
$1,343,481.93,  which  sum  represents  the  cost  of  the  office  in  the 
first  year  of  its  permanent  organization.  The  full  sum  available 
for  the  conduct  of  the  bureau  during  the  current  fiscal  year  is 
$1,585,528.29,  including  the  regular  appropriation  voted  by 
Congress,  $1,183,260,  and  the  unexpended  balance  of  the 
previous  appropriation,  amounting  to  $402,268.29,  which  was 
reappropriated  by  Congress  in  the  deficiency  act,  approved 
March  3,  1903,  and  which  has  been  construed  and  interpreted 
by  the  Attorney-  General  of  the  United  States  as  available  for 
all  general  census  purposes  during  the  fiscal  year  ending  June 
30,  1904. 

My  estimates  for  the  cost  of  conducting  the  bureau  during  the 
fiscal  year  beginning  July  i,  1904,  were  submitted  to  you  Octo- 
ber i,  and  received  your  approval.     These  estimates  call  for  an 
appropriation  of  $1,520,750  as  per  the  following  recapitulation: 
Salaries  ....................................................     $755,  360 

Collection  of  statistics  .......................................       455,  690 

Tabulation  of  statistics  .....................  .................         62,  300 

Rent  ......................................................         36,  600 

Stationery  .................................................          15,  ooo 

Miscellaneous  and  contingent  expenses  ......................         20,  800 

Library  ......................  .  .............................  5,  ooo 


T>  35°>  750 
Printing  (allotment  required  for  the  Census  Bureau  under  appro- 

priation for  public  printing  and  binding)  ..................          170,  ooo 


Total  amount  of  estimates  for  year  ending  June  30,  1905 . .  .    i,  520,  750 
This  sum  includes  provision  for  the  cost  of  the  quinquennial 
census  of  manufactures  which  Congress  has  directed  to  begin 
January  i,  1905.     The  estimates  for  the  coming  fiscal  year  are 
therefore  considerably  in  excess  of  the  amount  which  otherwise 
would  be  required  for  the  conduct  of  the  bureau. 
All  of  which  is  respectfully  submitted. 

S.   N.   D.   NORTH, 

Director. 
27 


YC  77241 


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UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


